Into the Light
by eggsaladstain
Summary: This is the risk she had warned him about, but it's a risk he's willing to take. It's a risk he will always take because she's worth it. Episode 9.


**Into the Light**

He feels, rather than hears the crash. It catches him deep in his chest, echoing, rattling his bones. He stops in his tracks and turns his head back. The trees rustle softly in the night and the road up ahead is dark and empty. He waits and listens, but there's only silence, and the pounding of his heart.

His feet remain planted on the ground, his body refuses to move. A breeze washes over him and his heartbeat grows faster and faster until it's thundering in his ears.

It's not just the air that he feels settling over his skin, it's her.

He breathes her in and there's a tightness in his chest, an uneasiness, and that's when he knows - something's _wrong_. Something's wrong with her. He exhales, and as quickly as the breeze carried her here, it's pulling her away. He reaches out and draws back an empty fist full of air.

Something buried deep inside him rears its head and growls. _Run_.

His legs move before his mind can react, propelling his body through the forest, back towards the road. The breeze wraps around him and he feels her guiding him through the dark. He's still in the forest when gunshots cut through the silence.

A roar erupts in his chest. _Run!_

The forest disappears around him as he races through the trees. He barely feels the branches tearing at him, hardly hears the crunch of leaves below his pounding feet.

There is only her.

He explodes out of the forest onto the road, ignoring his aching muscles and the stitch in his side. Her car is up ahead, the front mangled and crushed, the windshield shattered, but it's the smell of blood that makes his heart leap to his throat.

_Catherine!_

She doesn't answer. She doesn't move at all. Her head is hanging, limp against her shoulder and her breath is labored, uneven. He doesn't like how still she is.

He's by her side in an instant, but the door is stuck and he's never felt so helpless, so weak, and then, then that thing inside him, that feral, growling thing rises again. With a jerk, he rips the door away, but even as this new strength shoots through his veins, he can feel himself - him, _human_ - fading.

It's not a man who roars into the night, it's something darker, something _animal_.

The sound echoes in the silence, and the beast, unleashed, inhales deep, heaving breaths. He drinks in the crisp night air, tastes it in his mouth, feels it against his skin. But it's not just the air that he feels, it's her.

_Catherine._

There is only her.

He remembers the feel of her hand in his, the smell of her perfume when she laid her head on his shoulder, the look in her eyes when they danced. He remembers her hand on his face, and her words in his ear._ I'm here_, she had said, the first time she reached him in the dark._ Just be here with me_, he hears, and does.

As she floods his mind, he feels himself - him, _human_ - returning, but the darkness doesn't fade, it stays. That animal, that growling thing is still there, but this time, it's docile, it's controlled. In that moment, something changes within him. He feels himself,_ all_ of himself. He feels whole.

It's not a man who stands there in the night, or a beast. It's something stronger - it's both.

He pulls her from the wreckage and her head presses against his chest. It doesn't feel warm like it did before, it's cold, too cold. She needs help, and fast. He glances up ahead at the road and considers running, but no. He'd be faster without her. He could get help faster, and carrying her might do her more harm than good. He knows this, but what he _feels_ is her cold skin, her shallow breathing, her slow heartbeat. It's the way she feels, the way she looks so pale, almost transparent, that keeps him holding her in his arms.

He's still fighting himself when he catches the faint hum of a car coming up the road.

_Run!_, roars the beast, and his feet hit the pavement. He can't help her if someone sees him like this, he can't help her if he's discovered. But then he slows down and stops. He can't help her, but someone else can. He looks back down the road at the lights coming closer and closer. Whoever's in that car can help her faster than he can.

He looks down and feels her head against his cheek. The scent of her perfume envelops him, but it's faint and fading. She's fading.

The car stops and someone steps out. The headlights are bright in his eyes, blinding him until he has to turn away. This is what she was afraid of. This is the risk she had warned him about, but it's a risk he's willing to take. It's a risk he will always take because she's worth it.

He lifts his head and turns back toward the road.

_I'm here_, she had said, when she pulled him out of the dark.

_Just be here with me_, he thinks, as he looks into the light.

...

_Fin._


End file.
